light load 30-30 rounds for old rifles?

spinneyrob

Is there such a thing as a commercially made 30-30 round that is light on powder? I don't want to create my own handloads. This is for a 1910 Marlin Model 1893 with an octagonal barrel. I won't be hunting with this; I only want 20 rounds or so to confirm that the rifle cycles and fires correctly.

Thank you for your help.

Radar

See my topic towards the bottom of page RELOADING FOR OLD WINCHESTER they said a box of factory 170gr is fine,round or flat nose.

beantownshootah

First of all, the commercial loads should all be to spec, meaning they should still be safe in a 100 year old gun. If you want a lighter load "just to be safe" you could try the Remington "low recoil" loads, which should be operating at lower than normal pressures.

http://www.lg-outdoors.com/proddetail.asp?*=BH_REM RL30301

Just to see if it fires correctly, you probably only need one round.

In fact, you might be able to tell just by refiring a spent cartridge. . .if you get a good primer hit, the gun should fire a regular round OK.

With a lever gun, you don't actually need to fire the rounds to see if they cycle correctly; you can just cycle them through the gun (obviously keeping the muzzle in a safe direction!). You could also just use dummy rounds for this purpose.

asphalt cowboy

Action proving dummies should meet your needs.
May even be cheaper than a box of ammo.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=40859/Product/CENTERFIRE-RIFLE-DUMMIES

countryfarmer

quote:Originally posted by asphalt cowboy
Action proving dummies should meet your needs.
May even be cheaper than a box of ammo.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=40859/Product/CENTERFIRE-RIFLE-DUMMIES




But they arent near as fun.